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Experiment in Terror

6.8

1,724

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Original title

Experiment in Terror

Year

1962

Running time

123 min.

Country

United States

Director

Blake Edwards

Screenwriter

Gordon Gordon. Novel: Mildred Gordon

Cast

Music

Jack Hayes, Leo Shuken, Henry Mancini

Cinematography

Philip H. Lathrop (B&W)

Producer

Columbia Pictures

Genre

Film noir. Thriller | Cop Movies. Crime. Kidnapping Film / Disappearance

Synopsis

Glenn Ford stars as FBI agent John Ripley in Blake Edwards's only foray into the thriller genre. When bank teller Kelly Sherwood (Lee Remick) is confronted in the garage of her San Francisco home by a mysterious man (Ross Martin) suffering from asthma, he threatens to kill her teenage sister, Toby (Stefanie Powers), and possibly her if she fails to deliver $100,000 to him from the bank where she works. Although nearly paralyzed with fear, she calls the FBI and is told by agent Ripley to cooperate with the stranger's demands. Knowing the extortionist to be an ashmatic, Ripley is finally able to identify him as Red Lynch, an ex-con who did time for murder. But his attempt to extract information from Lisa Soong (Anita Loo), Lynch's ex-girlfriend, falls flat, since the criminal had paid the bills for the medical care of her crippled son. As the police slowly begin to close in on Lynch, he abducts Toby, intending to hold her until his demands are met. Edwards's skillful daytime noir takes maximum advantage of the San Franciso locations, especially for the Candlestick Park finale. Martin's turn as the wheezing psychopath is especially notable, as is Henry Mancini's brooding score.

Awards: 1962: Golden Globes: Nominated for Best Supporting Actor (Ross Martin)

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Critics' reviews

"Credit the film’s modest virtues to Edwards’s undeniable verve as a visual stylist. Still, with a running time slightly over two hours, Experiment in Terror is a bit too protracted to count as an unqualified success."

Budd Wilkins: Slant
"With 'Experiment in Terror', Edwards, working in the familiar genre of criminal depravity, does something that may well be, for Hollywood, unprecedented: he makes a virtual piece of film criticism in movie form."

Richard Brody: The New Yorker
"It takes more than two hours to come to a solution of the problem in this film. They would do it in one hour on TV, and it would probably be every bit as good."

Bosley Crowther: The New York Times
"Edwards' direction is effective, although he relies too heavily on overhead and boom shots to show his action scenes."

TV Guide
"The film treatment embraces a number of unnecessary character bits that merely extend the plot and, despite their striking individual reaction, deter from the suspense buildup."

Variety Staff: Variety
"After Carpenter and De Palma, it may seem a little dated; yet Edwards' classical feel for pure cinema remains unalloyed."

Time Out

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User history

Experiment in Terror

1962

Blake Edwards

6.8

(1,724)